What happened
Shares of Vera Therapeutics (VERA 2.48%) closed 16.9% higher on Tuesday after jumping as much as 23.5%. The clinical-stage biotech company announced positive news regarding trial results for one of its therapies. The stock is up more than 100% over the past three months. Last week, it rose when a competitor in kidney disease treatment, Chinook Therapeutics, said it had agreed to a $3.2 billion buyout from Novartis.
So what
Vera announced on Saturday that Berger's disease therapy Atacicept met its primary and key secondary endpoints in a phase 2b trial 36 weeks into the trial, reducing proteinuria and and showing statistically significant stabilization of eGFR versus placebo. The results were presented at the 60th European Renal Association Congress. Berger's disease, known as Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN), is an autoimmune disease of the kidney. The company said the drug also showed a solid safety profile. The company said that based on the results, it is already recruiting patients for the therapy's phase 3 trial.
Now what
From an investor's standpoint, Vera Therapeutics is still a risky stock, with no approved therapies. However, the latest results put it one step closer to commercial status, and the patient populations for kidney disorders is large and growing.
Atacicept is the company's lead therapy. It is a dual inhibitor of the cytokines B-cell lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) in plasma cells and is thought to have the potential to treat several autoimmune disorders. Basically, the drug reduces overstimulation of B cells and plasma cells, and autoantibody production caused by certain proteins.
In the first quarter, the company lost $30.1 million and said it had $197.2 million in cash, enough to fund operations into 2026. With the latest news, Vera has the impetus it needs to raise funds, likely through a stock sale.
